The Killer and the Killer
by Groves of the Pass'd
Summary: A sweet little story about a wounded Kusuriuri and a strange artist-lady who opens his heart and uncovers the love he is capable of feeling.


**Kusuriuri.**

**"Medicine Seller."**

---

The Mononoke had destroyed everything.

It was in the Form of a Tanuki, a racoon, and it was hungry for the deaths of the people.

Even the Medicine Seller, Kusuriuri, was battered by the Tanuki's mighty claws, and even though Kusuriuri had killed it with his glorious Sword of Exorcism, he lay exhausted in the broken patch of woodland.

His body still rose and fell with his breathing, but his strong violet-blue eyes were closed.

After he had sheathed his sword again, after the Mononoke was killed, he urged the surviving people to leave the forest where they were attacked, and to leave him there too. Kusuriuri had wandered away into the trees, his huge medicine chest slung over his tired shoulders, and he searched for a place to rest.

His beautiful light blue kimono swished as he walked, and then, as daylight seeped away into nighttime, Kusuriuri settled himself down where he stood, and he leaned his back against the strong trunk of a tree.

Kusuriuri could hear his own heartbeat in his ears, and he breathed through his mouth in shaky gasps. "What a battle that was," he murmured to himself in his mesmerizing deep voice.

He looked around the scarred forest, stared at the collasped trees, how they were blackened with fire and splattered with blood.

Blood.

Kusuriuri could taste his own blood on his tongue, for he must have scratched it somehow as the Tanuki was attacking. He could feel his blood dripping down his hands from the broken skin on the back of his palms. He could feel the sting of a gash on his face.

Transforming into his "golden" self, his Mononoke-killing self, as he unsheathed his sword, did not heal the wounds he bore as a regular medicine seller. However, Kusuriuri was very strong, tough to cut physically and even tougher to shatter emotionally. But the Tanuki had a dark, long Regret and Truth to uncover, and it had a lot of strength, enough to slash away at Kusuriuri's skin.

"Pathetic," Kusuriuri muttered to himself again, opening the chest to reach for bandages. He pressed them against his wounds. Though he was in pain, he did not take any medicine for it, because pain was nothing to him.

"It's only pain," he whispered, gazing at the red soaking into the bandages. "Only a nerve. It's not really there, not really in my arms or my face. It's only in our heads." He sighed. "Only an internal sense. It's the remnants of slashings. Like a ghost."

He could not do anything for his cut tongue, but he drank some water, letting the cold wash down his throat.

He was so tired, so tired that Kusuriuri could barely keep his eyelids open, barely move his hands. So he let his eyes close, let his senses slow, until he drifted into sleep.

He didn't wake until next morning, when his acute hearing suddenly perked him into consciousness. Feeling a little better after rest, Kusuriuri jumped to his sandalled feet. He felt no dark presence, no threat. Perhaps a human?

"Sir?"

Kusuriuri's head whipped to face the direction of the sound. It came from behind a tree, where a woman wearing a very unexpensive red and purple kimono stood to face him. She had a very elegant visage, and her black hair was long as it was not put up.

He could see her red lipstick, and even the scarlet facepaint she wore decoratively arond her sparkling green eyes and on her nose. Her nails were long and also painted red, and she had a large box on her back, large, though not as quite as big as Kusuriuri's.

She wore a purple necklace around her narrow neck, and a circle shaped mirror attached to a string hung loosely from her neck as well.

"Are you the Medicine Seller I've been searching for?" She asked, stepping forward.

Kusuriuri did not open his mouth, his mouth that spoke intelligence and knowing. His mouth that spoke the truth, and sheltered his sharp white fangs. He only stared at her with calculating eyes.

"You must be the Kusuriuri," she murmured cheerily. "The one who hunts Mononoke. I've been looking for you." She grinned.

Kusuriuri felt a curiosity stirring within him. "Oh?"

He saw the woman blush bright cherry red as his word made its way to her ears. "Yes. They tell of your valiant journeys to destroy the most fearsome Mononoke. I've been trying to find you for a very long time, Kusuriuri, and now I've finally found you."

Kusuriuri blinked. "You were searching for. . . me?"

The woman nodded. "I'm called Ayako. Im a Gaka, an Artist." She bowed before him. Kusuriuri heard a sound, and Ayako opened a hand. Something floated into her grip. It looked like a katana, quite like his.

"Kusuriuri," Ayako said gravely, "I'm quite like you." Her outstretched arm lifted the sleeve of her crimson kimono, and it made the obvious black and white eye design on the red fabric visible to the Medicine Seller's sight.

Kusuriuri narrowed his eyes, then took a step closer to her. He was still in pain, and his leg was wobbly for he twisted it during combat. "Perhaps." His own sword came into his hand, showing the red demon's head at the end of the grip. "Mononoke woman. Is this your Form?" The demon head on the sword clicked its teeth together three times. Wrong. This was not the Form.

Ayako laughed. "No. I'm not a Mononoke. I told you, I'm like you." She gasped as she saw Kusuriuri stumble in his steps. She moved fast to catch him before he fell. "You are hurt," she cried, holding his strong shoulders.

Kusuriuri almost recoiled from her touch for a moment, his eyes wide, then calmed, exhaling. Ayako felt his warm breath on her hand. "Trust me, please. Use your scales, even." Her own box opened, and out came a scale, extemely similar to Kusuriuri's, settling to the ground. Two little golden bells came down to measure the distance from the Mononoke. The scale did not tilt to neither Kusuriuri or Ayako. Neither were Mononoke.

Ayako leaned away from him, and slung off her box. She took out some kind of cake. She handed it to him. "Here. You must be hungry after fighting that Tanuki."

Kusuriuri took it, and he was startled for a second as Ayako cupped her hand around his own as he held it. He looked at her shining, clean face.

Ayako smiled, meeting his strong gaze, and said, "Go on, Mister Medicine Seller, you can eat it."

The Medicine Seller gazed at her for a moment longer, before he stared at it and put it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. He then shifted to sit more comfortably, folding his legs under his body. Ayako sat beside him, still looking at his wonderfully handsome face.

Kusuriuri spoke, "You also travel?"

"To kill Mononoke, yes," Ayako finished. "Like you, I also have an other self, a self that wields my Exorcising Sword.

"Why," Kusurirui began. "Have you been trying to find me?"

"Well that's an easy question," Ayako said happily. "I admire you!" She leaned on him, making him wince as she put pressure on his wounds, and she wrapped her arms around the Medicine Seller's own. Kusuriuri minded her affection, and he secretely wished she wouldn't cling so much.

Ayako continued, "I've heard countless tales of your journies, how you kill Mononoke like a forest fire." She murmured into his clothing. "And I longed to meet you, Mister Kusuriuri."

He gazed at her carefully, taking in her appearance that was strikingly similar to his own. He found she was quite pretty as she held his arm, more gingerly now as she realized that he was hurting a little.

And as he gazed at her, he suddenly realized, he realized that, as much as Ayako coming to him surprised him, he found a spark of genuine respect for her. Maybe it was because she was as powerful as he.

Ayako though, had a very definate fondness for the Medicine Seller as she breathed into his kimono. "Are you alright, Mister Kusuriuri?" She asked.

"Yes," He replied simply, though he was still tired and still aching and still hungry.

Ayako didn't seem convinced. "Are you sure, Kusuriuri-san?" She let go of his arm. "If you are tired, you may sleep. I will stay and watch over you." She got up to stand a little way away from him, giving him space for him to stretch out and rest.

Kururiuri looked up at her and said softly, "Thank you." He lay on his side, turned away from her. Ayako watched him and stared at the beautiful eye printed on the back of his kimono. She rested her chin on her hand.

"Ayako-san?" Kusuriuri piped up suddenly, turning his head to side-glance at her.

"Yes?"

Kururiuri's handsome eyes looked at her gravely. "Are there more of us? More that can kill Mononoke?" He had never known this strange Gaka was alive until now. He thought he was the only one.

Ayako shook her head. "No," she replied. "There is just the two of us. Kusuriuri, you are so successful, so great. That's why I admire you so much. I look up to you."

Kusuriuri spoke slowly, "I don't feel that's all. There's something else, isn't there?" He hesitated for a moment, then dared to ask, "Ayako, are you... In love with me?"

There was silence in the forest.

**--**

**This was the first part of a 2-part story.**

**Love,**

**Groves of the Pass'd. **


End file.
